The Phantom Punch Muhammad Ali The Complete Documentary Episode 10
In early May the media had completed an interview with sunny Lon Liston had big plans to win back his heavyweight championship of the world from Muhammad Ali we covered liston’s interview and only liston’s interview in episode 9 he said that he was going to retire Muhammad Ali and that he was going to
Knock him out there was no doubt about it Liston had a chip on his shoulder and he wanted to silence his critics as well as Muhammad Ali Ali heard about liston’s plan and was back in front of the media the very next day Ali responded telling
The media that he also has a plan for listen he told the media that if he tells them what the plan was and when he planned to execute this plan people would not come to the fight oi also told the media that if a time comes when
Liston is sitting on his stool refusing to fight that he would pull Liston off his stool and make Liston fight I’m not being worried about being called a villain but I won’t tell you the round I’ll stop him in the day of the fight I’ll announce the time I’ll KO him I’ll
Know down to the minute when it will happen if Liston quits I’ll pull him off the stool and I’ll make him fight remember evil will not over come righteousness it never wins I can’t be beat I’ll beat him I wasn’t joking when I called around in the first meeting
With Senate boy Liston doesn’t believe he could beat me I won’t let him Hit me hard I hope he stays out of trouble until I meet him I think he’ll jump out of the ring before the fight starts it’ll be a dirty fight but I’ll fight clean the people involved with the fight
Continue to iron out any final wrinkles having to do mostly with sen lon’s criminal background and the fighters relationships and dealings with InterContinental promotions the District Attorney’s office did not feel as though InterContinental promotions should be promoting the fight and claimed that InterContinental promotions did not have a promoter’s license according to
InterContinental promotions Sam Silverman was being said to be the promoter for this fight and had been working hard to address and break down each barrier as of now the fight was scheduled to be taking place at the Boston Garden there were still some people that believed Ali and Liston
Should not be allowed to fight but as for now the fight was still on according to the members of the boxing commission compliance had been met for all requirements According to some other professionals there was still some issues that needed to be ironed out in the meantime Ali held open sparring and
Training for the media Ali had slimmed down and appeared to be in excellent shape Ali sparred A few rounds with Spar partner Cody Jones for the media after open workouts Ali addressed the media Ali told the media that Liston is a dirty fighter that deliberately attempted to Blind him in the first
Fight he said that he’s expecting listening to utilize dirty tactics in the rematch Ali also said that most people will be coming to see him lose and that people’s dislike for him was making him more popular he said that he gained strength from his critics Ali
Also said that boxing is no longer as important to him as the sport had been to him in the past Ali was reporting his weight differently to the media on a daily basis he was now telling the media that he had gained about five or six pounds of the previously lost weight
Back both olly and Liston had been accusing each other of sending spies to each other’s camp and olly was now reporting different numbers regarding his weight Ally also spoke on Joe Lewis which he had a big hangup with with Joe Lewis he went on to say that he was a
Better Champion than Joe Lewis ever was there was no secret that Lewis was a big supporter of Liston Lewis had been advising Sunny listen on a variety of subject matter for several years even though Lewis had not made a prediction Lewis had originally made a prediction
That Liston would win but now he was holding back on his prediction Alli told the media that he knew that Lewis was going with listen but that Lewis did not want to really admit that he was going with listen because he didn’t have confidence in Liston Lewis had developed
A friendship with Liston long before Lewis even knew who Ali was regardless Ali still appeared to hold hard feelings regarding the friendship between Lewis and Liston when Ali first burst onto the scene during his amateur days he told people that his hero was Joe Lewis Ali now appeared to be frustrated that Lewis
Was in liston’s Camp while speaking on Joe Lewis a few of Ali’s Muslim Brothers entered the room Ali shifted the conversation ation the struggles going on between black and white people he talked about the Nation of Islam for a few minutes then shifted the conversation back to Sunny Liston Ali
Told the media that Liston was not going to last very long in the next fight he would not predict the exact round he also spoke on Floyd Patterson calling Patterson a chump and told the media that after he annihilates Liston Patterson would be nexton line to
Receive a beating Ali again made sure he mentioned that Liston was an 8 to5 f and advised his fans to bet against listen he again told the media that training had been going well according to Ali’s trainers Ali started his morning routine at 6:00 a.m. but would usually rise
Around 5:00 a.m. this was the best time to catch olly in a serious mood olly was the type of man that started his days off very quiet he usually would not have much to say until lunchtime Ali would open up verbally as the day rolled on olly would Run 5 miles each morning
Before breakfast the morning workout was usually a closed workout Ally did not meet with the media every day but there was a time slot for the media penel in on his daily routine that time was 1245 p.m. if he met with the media he would hold open workouts around 1:00 p.m. this
Was the daily schedule which was shared with the media there was slight adjustments made to the schedule depending on how Ali and the team felt that morning and even though they would not meet with the media every day Ali was still more open to meeting with the
Media than Sunny Liston to the workout you’ve just seen comes the heavyweight champion of the world himself good to see you champ how would coel the world’s greatest newscaster how you feeling you’re very kind champ but let’s get to cases you look almost like you’re ready for the fight right now you’re about
Right almost ready after another week I’m a little tired now I’m working hard about for the big night I’ll be ready I noticed you youve stopped with the Poetry you’re not making any predictions how come well I’m just uh I have a prediction for the fight but
Uh um I think I’ll be wise not to release it because so many people believe in on my predictions and they have been accurate up to date I’m afraid that uh it might hurt the gate if I let them know what’s going to happen so I’ll
Just hold a surprise for let me say this to you good luck I hope it’s not an act I hope you mean if it’s an act just look at my record and see if there have the other fights been a have they been a not so far well what makes you think I’m
Acting and with that final stage of the ACT we leave the heavyweight champion of the world Muhammad Ali or Cash’s clay as you will here at his training camp in chiap Massachusetts we’re going to take you for a visit to the challengers camp in Poland Spring Maine right after this
Message on May 6 the former light heavyweight champion of the world Willie pastrano visited Ali at his training camp pastrano had recently lost his light heavyweight title in a fight with Jose Torres Mohammad Ali invited pastrano and a few media members to eat a cook meal with him prepared by his
Wife sonji pastrano was previously disappointed with Ali as Ali was predicting that Torres would defeat pastrano according to pastrano he had knew Ali longer than Torres and felt that Ali was being disloyal by picking Torres to win the fight as it turns out Ali was correct regardless pastrano
Appeared to have moved on and was in Camp to support Ali their conversation took place in front of the media Ali asked pastrano not to retire and told pastrano you can’t retire just because you have a loss he used Floyd Patterson as an example and told pastrano that
Patterson has been down several times and is still a top heavyweight pastrano responded by telling Ali that he does not believe he is washed up physically but he is washed up mentally pastrano admitted to Ali that Ali picked the right winner when Ali picked Jose Torres
To defeat him but also told Ali that he believes he could beat Torres if he goes in there with the right game plan and mentality Ali sat with pastrano in front of the media for several minutes attempting to convince pastrano to make a comeback Ali admitted that he did pick
Torres to win but told pastrano that he believes with the right game plan he can regain the light heavyweight championship ship of the world pastrano at times would question his physical Decline and seem somewhat confused as to where his skills was at in the year of 1965 what the media witnessed was a
Young fighter trying to convince an older fighter that the older fighter still has it Ali felt bad for pastrano and appeared not to want to conclude the conversation until pastrano told him he would again fight Jose Torres as Ali’s wife brought out the food pastrano wanted to shift the conversation from
Himself to Ali so how will that fight with SNY go Ali told pastrano that he had to admit Liston had an off night according to Ali Lon would be more prepared for the rematch he told pastrano he was not sure how long the fight would go he also told pastrano
That he had been telling the media that he has a big surprise for Liston but admitted that he would base the surprise around whatever the outcome ends up being so Ali was basically admitted to p Tonto and the media members that was present that whatever the outcome is
Going to be I’m going to say that that was the surprise basically what he was saying he asked pastrano if he saved any money pastrano told Ali that he has close to a million dollars when pastrano asked Ali if he enjoys being a fighter Ali told pastrano that he does not enjoy
Fighting and that fighting was now business According to some reporters Ali was still getting used to the new location the trip to Massachusetts was long especially after the bus breaking down and Ali had been in front of the media ever since his arrival cashes did the bus trip take anything out of you
And was it worth the $1,800 it cost you Muhammad my name is Muhammad y’all keep calling me cashes I tired of telling you you know you’re intelligent my name is Muhammad Ali not cashes $1,800 is nothing to me I make I draw $7 million whenever I fight and $1,800 is nothing
Champ Liston hopes you don’t have another herni your operation see now you rather say champ the Muhammad see I got a surprise that will shock the world I will not tell you because if I tell you when I’m going to do it the people won’t come to the
Fight that should be a hint right there what kind of a hint to the wise is sufficient Ali continued to tell the media that he has a surprise for listening that is going to shock the world May 7th 1965 with all the issues going on with the district attorney and InterContinental promotions
Backers of the rematch ended the court battle by pulling the fight out of Boston the fight would still take place on May 25th but would now take place in Leon Maine Ali received this information over the radio he told his team that it did not matter where they fought and
That a change of location would affect an older Sunny Liston more than it would affect him according to Ali they could set up a phone booth in the desert and he would fight Liston there Drew bundini Brown decided to cancel training for the remainder of the day he told the media
That the champ was in excellent shape and needed a day off also on May 7th Los Angeles the highly anticipated Pro debut of Jared Quarry would finally take place he would fight 10-year Pro Jean Hamilton Hamilton had fought the majority of his career as a middleweight Hamilton had
Been stopped in his last six fights including a knockout loss facing current light heavyweight champion of the world Jose Torres Quarry was expected to knock out Hamilton but the fight went the fourr round distance Quarry was mostly known for some big knockout victories he had delivered at the international Golden Gloves tournament anticipation
Was high for Quarry after the fight Quarry told the media that he understands Fighters do not always get The Knockout Victory they’re looking for quy again brought up Oscar bonavina and said that he does not plan on rushing his career like bonavina did of course he brought up the fact that bonavina had
Just recently lost to Skilled veteran Zora Foley as for now the plan was to get quarry two or three fights a month for the remainder of 1965 because of his power quy was having issues finding amateur fights over the last year of his amateur career so he
Wasn’t as active as he needed to be and he needed some experience May 9th 1965 Liston had nothing to say about the change of location regarding the rematch Ali told the media that his training camp location will remain where it’s at liston’s team decided to move their training camp closer to the fight
Location according to InterContinental promotions Sam Silverman was still the promoter even with the change in location the rules were different in Maine they were more relaxed and rolled out the red carpet for the heavyweight title fight to take place plus the main boxing commission were no longer affiliated with the WBA so they
Definitely had no problem bringing the fight to their state Mohammad Ali was viewed as the heavyweight champion by the Commission in the state of Maine according to the governor of Maine John Reed the upcoming fight would be the biggest sporting event in Maine’s history there was also rumored that
Former heavyweight champion of the world Jersey Joe wcot may be officiating the fight the boxing Commission in the state of Maine thought it would add Prestige to the fight fight to have wcot as the referee Lewiston was a small city with a population of approximately 41,000
People but was said to have a good number of fight fans the fight date had not been changed and still be May 25th there was a new location and an increase in ticket prices but there was also still criticism coming from several members of the media politicians and
Fight fans according to one popular writer Liston and Ali were overpaid bums that should not be making higher money than athletes like Arnold Palmer for a few minutes of work according to this particular Rider golfer Arnold Palmer would make $20,000 winning a golf tournament while the heavyweight champion could make up
To a million dollars in a fight according to a few writers Liston belonged in prison and not in the ring they also ink that Ali should be going by his birth name of clay and also should be offering his services in in Vietnam there would only be a
5,500 seat capacity in the new location this was compared to the attendance of nearly 105,000 people that attended tuny vers Dempsey 2 in the year of 1927 the attendance numbers between the two events were being used to make a statement regarding a decline in fan interest in the sport of boxing a point
Raised by those that attempted to debunk the critics was that television was not a factor in the year of 1927 Ali’s trainer Drew bundini Brown spoke with the media on the 9th of May and told them that Ali would not be on his toes as much in this fight according to Brown
Ali will be utilizing less footwork and sitting down on his punches more often than he did in the first fight on May 10th two key fights would take place in the heavyweight division one on the west coast and another on the East Coast let’s start with the West Coast fight
May 10th San Francisco Eddie maon will return to the ring after a failed attempt to gain a vacant WBA title facing Ernie Terrell two months earlier Ma’s opponent Elmer Rush was coming off three first round knockout victories in a row the only fighter that had ever defeated Elmer Rush was Houston’s Todd
Herring Herring was scheduled to fight Floyd Patterson in the next two days Rush was hoping for a rematch with herring but could not secure that fight as hering was focused on fighting Floyd Patterson next fight fans was looking for a new Young heavyweight to make their presence in the heavyweight
Division Elmer Rush believed that he was that Fighter the fight was ink to be action-packed and would end up resulting in a draw many of the ringside observers had maon winning the fight as he had hurt rush in the third and Ninth round it was ink that in the ninth ma may have
Been able to close the show but took his foot off the gas it was the stiff jab coming from Rush that kept him in the fight ma would give Rush his props after the fight he told the media that he would be willing to fight rush in the
Rematch ma said that he was not going to be down on himself he felt that he had won the fight but Rush is a good Prospect but considering that Rush is such a good fighter he could accept the draw for what it is let’s move on to the
East coast fight May 10th Philadelphia Sunny liston’s sparring partner leotus Martin was 14 and one after spending a number of years with sunny Lon Martin had made some big improvements as a fighter like Sunny Lon Martin was born in Arkansas he was now fighting out of Philadelphia during the time of this
Fight Martin had moved on from being Sunny liston’s sparm partner facing Martin was Detroit Sunny Banks Banks was known best for knocking Mohammad Ali down in the first round of their 1962 Battle of course Ali will win that fight but the fight between Banks and Ali would never be forgotten by fight fans
Banks was considered to be a stepup fight for Martin and outweighed Martin by 25 lbs the only problem for sunny Banks is that he had nearly been out of the ring for a year and Martin was a very active fighter this was ink to be an action-packed War leotus Martin was
Down on the scorecards and had just been staggered by A Banks right hand when Martin returned fire and hit banks with a combination of flush punches followed by a hard right hand towards the end of the ninth round Banks was out cold before he could hit the canvas with no
Control of his legs bank’s head bounced off the canvas he did not appear to be regaining Consciousness and had to be carried out of the ring on a stretcher Banks temporarily regained Consciousness around 20 minutes later in the dressing room he was not responding well to questions and was rushed to the hospital
Leotus Martin would follow Banks to the hospital to stay updated on the status of banks Health Martin did not want to leave bank’s side until he knew that Banks would be okay but it did not take long for tearful leotus Martin to hear that Banks was in critical condition and
May not survive Physicians told Martin that there was a chance banks May recover and ask Martin to leave and get some rest as they would have to perform an emergency surgery on Sunny Banks the 24-year-old Sunny Banks was suffering from a blood clot and swelling to the
Brain it had only been 3 years since the passing of Benny kid pet and there was many people that wanted boxing to be outlawed there had not been a death in Philly since Robert Perry versus Rudy Watkins nearly a decade earlier but there had already been four deaths in
Boxing in the year of 1965 a concerned leotus Martin left the hospital in tears and stayed within the vicinity leotus Martin would be in and out of the hospital for updates and was having problems sleeping but his problems was nothing compared to the challenges Sunny Banks was facing Banks
Was fighting for his life and Banks fought hard for days according to Cleveland Williams and Mohammad Ali Banks punch as hard or even harder than Sunny Liston Sunny Banks was a fighter that did not have an amateur career and his lack of experience was said to be
The main reason he had lost fights earlier in his career Banks played football and basketball and was still hoping to excel in one of those Sports he was only 24 years old it was only 5 years ago that Banks was riding past the boxing gym and decided to go inside the
Boxing gym and take a peak within a few months he was already participa in his first professional fight Banks was a young man that did not have a criminal record he did not drink and smoke and worked at the Ford plant in Detroit he resided with his younger brother who
Also worked at the Ford plant Banks would fight for his life for 3 days then on the 13th of May he would pass away in the hospital leotus Martin who was on also 24 years old was devastated leotus Martin did not want to return to his job
At the factory he said that he had no choice because Martin’s wife was asking him to quit boxing and he had to keep the money coming in Martin told reporters that he was going to get back to work and think about returning to the ring when asked what he thought about
The passing of banks Muhammad Ali reflected on the man that caught him off guard a few years earlier and floored him Ali told the media that Banks was a hard puncher and if he had more experience he would have went further in the sport as Ali continued to elaborate
On banks he stopped in his words Ali seemed to look through the media as he stood in front of them with a blank look on his face there appeared to be something heavy on his mind that he did not want to share with the media he sent
His best wishes to the family of Sunny Banks and concluded the conversation Sunny Liston was also asked about the passing of Sunny Banks Liston was very familiar with both leotus Martin and sunny Banks as Martin and Banks had previously been two of liston’s SP Partners when Liston was asked about the
Passing of Sunny Banks Liston said nothing to the media Liston was in a bad mood that day and when open workouts were held he walked into the ring and brutally knocked out one of his Spar Partners as if he had been triggered by the question there was a few key fights
And breaking news stories that would occur on the 14th of May one Ali got back his bus on the 14th the first thing he did was loaded up the bus and took his team to a nearby bowling alley Ali would Trash Talk the whole time went in
The few games of bowling he again spoke down on Sunny Lon calling Liston an old man and saying that the rumor Liston was running up to seven miles daily was a lie according to Ali old man Liston could never make it through a sevenmile run he spent some time joy riding around
Town in his bus then returned to Camp the media was also around Liston that day one thing Liston was doing to prepare for the upcoming fight was study film from his first fight with Ali Liston would not go into detail on what he was picking up from the film study he
Did acknowledge that his punches were falling short Liston told the media that he sees something in Ali and that he has a secret weapon when asked to elaborate Liston refused he concluded by telling the media that his sparm Partners fight better than Ali also on May 14th a Press
Conference was held for 300lb amateur sensation Buster matthys matthysse was supposed to represent America in the 1964 Olympics before the Olympics matys was spared with a young fighter named Joe Frasier when matthys broke his hand it would be Joe Frasier that would replace matthys and represent America in
The 1964 Olympics Frasier would win a gold medal matthysse had been picked up by a group of businessmen that came from his hometown of Grand Rapids Michigan matthys was actually born in Mississippi even though he was close to 300 lb he was a durable heavyweight that moved like a smaller heavyweight matthysse
Could do some of everything from close to long range and had a solid jab expectations was high the plan was for matys to be fighting in his Pro debut by next month there was also some more news announced on the assigned referee regarding the upcoming heavyweight title
Fight between oi and Liston according to rumors the referee was supposed to be Jersey Joe Walcott also being considered was former heavyweight champion of the world Jack shy shy had won the heavyweight championship of the world some 33 years earlier he did not believe the fight between oi and Liston would go
To distance on May 14th shy did not want to give the media his prediction on the upcoming bout between Oly and Liston but said that youth usually favors a matchup between two good Fighters shy said that he would only ref the fight if the price was right while Oly enjoyed a day of
Light training bowling and joy riding former heavyweight champion of the world Floyd Patterson was in Sweden fighting fellow American fighter Todd Herring there was over 11,000 fight fans in attendance to see this fight Herring had only lost three of 29 fights losing fights to Zora Foley Alonzo Johnson and
At the time undefeated Tony along longi before the bout Patterson said that he had heard of Todd Herring but had never seen him fight Patterson said that he can’t imagine losing the Herring and is already looking past him Patterson would make short work of Herring stopping herring in three rounds according to
Reports Patterson who was 16 pounds lighter than Herring toyed with his opponent and was given hering a bad beating before the fight was stopped in fact Herring barely landed anything of significance on Patterson after the fight Patterson told the media that he would be rooting for Muhammad Ali to
Defeat Sunny list as he had been promised the title shot if Ali would win Carl milenberg would also defend his Ebu title on May 14th winning a 15 round decision over Pierro tomason the fight was not ink to be an exciting fight According to some experts Thomason
Appeared to be winning the fight when mburger came on strong in the later rounds to take the decision mildenberger struggled with a cut over his right eye that he had received in the third round milen bger appeared to be hesitant to let his hands go in the early rounds and
More focused on staying in the high guard and protecting the cut there was talk of mburger fighting Ernie Terrell for the WBA title but as of May 14th the WBA had yet to make milenberg a mandatory for Terrell’s title fans would have to wait for more news to develop
Mildenberger said that he would fight Terrell but preferred to fight the winner of the bout between Oly and Liston which was now less than two weeks out on May 15th former heavy weight champion of the world Joe Lewis told the media that Muhammad Ali is the kind of fighter that thrives off of
Psychological warfare Lewis said that the Antics and verbal outbursts are a huge part of Ali’s strategy and he would be expecting the same kind of behavior from Ali as the fight gets closer Lewis who was advising Liston told the media that Ali is going to try to get into
Liston’s head at the upcoming weighin Lewis had been in liston’s ear telling Liston not to let alli’s Antics get the best of him according to former heavyweight champion of the world Joe Lewis Ali did not only get into liston’s head he also got into the head of liston’s trainer Willie reddish reddish
Did not like Ali’s big mouth and wanted Liston to put Ally in his place many things that Ali had said were not directed at reddish but reddish took many of alli’s criticisms of Liston to Heart Ali did take some indirect shots at Willie reddish and he said there was
Plenty of Lies coming from liston’s training camp such as Liston running seven miles a day so reddish saw that as Ali taking a shot at him as well as Liston according to Lewis reddish would get Liston all riled up over statements made by Ali and he was doing this on a
Daily basis May 16th n days before the big fight the media was reporting that both Muhammad Ali and sunny Lon were in phenomenal shape Liston again appeared in front of the media and answered most questions with a yes or no answer the media knew that if they wanted someone
To elaborate they were better off talking to liston’s trainer Willie reddish reddish told the media that Liston was in better shape now than he was in when the rematch was originally scheduled reddish did not have a prediction but promised that Liston would win by knockout as of now the
Louisville sponsoring group still had control of Ali’s contract there was talk of him leaving them and letting the noi handle all of his business Affairs in the sponsoring group was a woman golfer named Mina Norton it was originally her husband who held a share of the contract
With Ali but her husband had just passed away and she kept his sheare of the contract in 1965 it was a big deal for a woman to have or hold any kind of power position in boxing she also kept a scrapbook containing images and articles
That had to do with Ali as of recent Ali had been very short with the media when asked about the Louisville sponsoring group Ali would not answer many questions on the group which led people to believe he was looking to moving forward of course they thought that the
Noi was going to take over the contract and there was some talking behind the scenes regarding the noi’s interest in the business of boxing was his connection with the sponsoring group harming his Pro black image that was another question that was coming up especially in the black community if Ali
Was going to promote being pro black then it might be better for for him to have the noi handling his business Affairs this was something that would usually come up with the black fan base Ali was also aware of Miss Norton and her husband passing away and she being
Given a portion of his contract he was told that Miss Norton has a big scrapbook on him but Ally did not want to be connected to Norton and he did not really seem to be interested in being connected to the rest of the sponsoring group other than business there was no
Doubt about it that he was weakening his connection with the sponsoring group and strengthening his connections with the noi Ali’s strongest non-black partnership was with Angelo dunde dunde stayed out of any talk regarding the noi he was not shy about it and reminded the media that he works for Ali some accused
Dunde of being coached by high-ranking members of the noi to stay quiet on race relations regardless Angelo dunde never really had much to say and stayed away from race discussions this made it easy for Alli to interact effectively with his trainer and manager Ali appeared to
Have a great deal of respect for Angelo dundy but outside of Angelo dundy he appeared to be minimizing his connections with anyone outside of the black race especially the Louisville sponsoring Group T differences that have grown out of the fact that both of them want the same thing namely the heavyweight championship of the world cashes has it sunny wants it sunny had it cashes took it now they want to even the score Sunny would like that [Applause] alive hey care good champ looking good
Float champ float Cook young man and cook this one can’t be cast in a million years know that hey C he can’t beat you in a million years C that’s right I know it you know it and I know it you know what you give the greatest [Applause]
See the next day Ali spoken Floyd Patterson Patterson was still celebrating his knockout victory over Todd Herring a few days earlier According To Oi and manager Angelo dunde Floyd Patterson was next Dundee told the media that Ali had not been as active as he wanted to be the plan now was to
Fight Patterson before the end of the year the fight with sunny Lon was now only eight days away and Ali was still sparring according to Dundee the champion was in phenomenal shape May 17th was a Monday and Ally had trained on the 16th which was on a Sunday Ali
Usually took Sundays off but had a full day of training the May 16th training session was closed to the media in fact the media had visited both Ali and Liston and Liston had taken off his Sunday to rest two of the guys that were being considered to ref the fight was
Former heavyweight champions James J bradoock and Jersey Joe wott both guys had just visited liston’s training camp to check out his preparation for the upcoming fight wcot refused to make prediction bradoock finally decided on Liston and pick Liston to stop all in nine rounds this may not have been the
Right time for bradoock to make a prediction considering he was being looked at alongside wcot to perhaps officiate the fight once again also being considered to officiate the fight was former heavyweight champion of the world Jack shy now bradoock and welcott they’re the ones who went to see Liston
And said he was in great condition even though bradoock had been asked if he had an interest in officiating the bout bradoock didn’t seem too interested he was now openly given his prediction he Shrugged off questions regarding officiating the bout it appeared now that the top two choices to be the ref
Would be Jersey Joe Walcott and Jack shy over the past week the death threats had increased Ali received several calls from unidentified callers that warned him they were going to get revenge for the death of Malcolm X the calls had been going on since the assassination of Malcolm X which happened happened around
3 months earlier we covered the assassination of Malcolm X in an earlier episode the calls had increased when Ali moved his training camp close to the Boston area out of concern the Boston Globe increased the insurance policies on newspaper reporters that would be covering the upcoming fight between olly
And Liston the media had an unknown source that informed them about the death threats when Ali was confronted and asked about the death threats he did not deny receiving the threats and told the media that he fears nothing outside of Allah and said that Allah and The Honorable Elijah Muhammad would protect
Him Ali was asked by the media if he has a life insurance policy and Ali told the media that he does not have one that he knows of according to Ali’s mother the million-dollar Champion had a $500 insurance policy she said that the insurance policy was one that she took
Out when Ali was 5 years old the people that did have a substantial insurance policy in Ali was the Louisville sponsoring group who had told the media that they set up the insurance policy to protect their investment the attorney for the sponsoring group declined to tell the media how much money they had
Tied up in Ali’s insurance policy the 23-year-old Ali knew nothing about the insurance policy that the Louisville sponsoring group had and didn’t seem to care much about it in fact Ally told the media that he could care less about life insurance policies as the media continued to question oi regarding life
Insurance a frustrated oi changed the subject back to boxing and spoke highly on his sparm partner Jimmy Ellis according to Ali The Talented Ellis was the next light heavyweight champion of the world the state of Maine boxing commission Physicians examined Ali and reported that Ali was 100% fit on May
18th a telephone news conference took place Ali and Liston spoke from their training camps to an audience that included three former world heavyweight champions that would be Joe Lewis jersey Joe wcot and Jim Brad also listening in to the telephone call was young Olympic gold medalist Joe Frasier Frasier had
Recently told the media several times that he believes Ali would win the fight according to Joe Frasier there was not many heavyweights out there that was going to be heavyweights that have an extensive amateur background such as himself and Ali he told the media that because he was an Olympic gold medalist
And he had an an extensive amateur background he could relate to Ali he was also closer in age to Ali Frasier believed that liston’s best years were behind him he said that he found Ali to be entertaining and said that Ali was an inspiration to Young Fighters like
Himself the three former world champions along with the 1964 Olympic gold medalist Joe Frasier listened to the telephone conference from a jam-packed restaurant in Philadelphia Ali and Sunny Liston did some verbal sparring has both predicted a knockout Ali again addressed Joe Lewis and told Lewis that he made a
Big mistake picking Liston to win the fight Joe I hope you pick a winner this time you’re just too great to be picking all those losers when oi heard that Olympic gold medalist Joe Fraser was also in the restaurant he addressed Joe Frasier this was the first time that Ali
Ever addressed Joe Frasier publicly here in 1965 during the buildup to the Sunny Liston rematch he he advised Joe Frasier to lose some weight and become a light heavyweight he trash talked Joe Frasier a little bit Frasier just smiled looked at the phone and shook his head but at
The same time Frasier was the only person at the restaurant willing to make a prediction Frasier said that he had always picked Ali to defeat Liston he said that he had even picked Ali in the first fight and that Ali represents his generation Sunny Liston concluded by
Telling the media that he was in better shape than he was in the first fight and that his shoulder injury had fully healed back at The Liston training camp Liston was still very short with the media the former heavyweight champion of the world Joe Lewis was still around and
Doing most of the talking after Joe Lewis would leave Philadelphia he would returned to Sunny lon’s training camp on May 19th 6 days before the fight the media showed up to liston’s training camp Liston had lost a number of sparring partners after knocking them out the only sparring partner that could
Hang was a big train Lincoln and according to reports Liston had been putting a beating on Lincoln as well but there was also reports that Inc linkoln did not appear to be going full blast and sparring sessions the sparring partners that Liston had knocked out were said to be lower level heavyweight
And light heavyweight Fighters an invitation had been extended to heavyweight fighter leotus Martin to once again become a Sparr partner for Sunny Liston but leotus Martin declined as he was not sure if he wanted to fight again after the death of his last opponent Sunny Banks there was some
Information that leaked out to the media according to the nameless inside source Liston was said to not be as explosive as he used to be they also said that Amos Lincoln who was his best spar partner was taking it easy on Liston and that Lincoln had been paid off to do so
Liston told one of the media members to go find his trainer Willie reddish should Joe Lewis and speak with them as he was not in the mood to talk they spoke with Lewis and Lewis took them back to his fighting days and talked about his return match with Max
Schmelling in the first fight Lewis was stopped by schmelling in the 12th round and the second fight it took Lewis one round to destroy schmelling according to Lewis his trainer Jack Blackburn told Lewis that he was not to box schmelling Lewis was instructed by Blackburn to fight schmelling according to Lewis this
Is what Sunny would have to do against Ali the angry Jack Blackburn had passed away 20 three years ago Lewis dropped some of Blackburn’s gems on Sunny Lon he was honest with Liston and told Lon not to get caught in a strategical battle with Muhammad Ali Blackburn’s philosophy
Was based on analyzing your opponent Gathering data and executing a game plan based on your opponent’s style Blackburn did not believe all opponents should be fought the same way and would devise a game plan based on whatever information he could gather on his Fighters opponent in the days of Jack Blackburn there was
No film study Blackburn would have to analyze the fighter in person and develop his game plan based off a one-time observation maybe sometimes he would get to observe the fighter more than once but there was no film to go back to and to revisit if Blackburn
Could see a fighter in person he was an expert in observing a Fighter’s weaknesses one could only imagine how great of a trainer Blackburn would have been with access to film Blackburn’s interest in boxing had went back to the 1890s he was a non-nonsense fighter knowledge on the sweet science had been
Passed on to Blackburn through boxing Mastermind Frank Sutton as well as boxing atg Sam Lanford Sutton was one of the first black men to judge a fight boxing knowledge was gathered and passed down from generation to generation what Joe Lewis did was attempt to pass knowledge down to Sunny Liston that was
Passed down to him from Jack Blackburn in the 1960s film study was based on film availability so the interaction piece based on recollection was still well defined Joe Lewis also told the media that Liston has a great trainer in his corner cut from the cloth of a jack
Blackburn in Willie reddish according to Lewis reddish was going to advise Liston to place pressure on Ali Lewis said that Liston needed to abandon the jab the former heavy way champ did not believe it was wise for Liston to try to trade Jabs with oi he believed Liston needed
To lead with left Hooks and right crosses he also believed that he needed to stay close to Ali and take away distance between himself and Ali Lewis said that an aggressive fighter does not have to be as quick with his feet as a fighter that utilizes a lot of movement
The only thing aggressive Fighters need to know how to do is cut off the ring Lewis told the media that he was not as fast with his feet but knew how to cut cut off the ring against Fighters that had faster feet than him Lewis said that
He had done this several times in past fights of his he had fought guys that had faster feet but as long as he knew how to cut off the ring and close the distance he was able to get to those Fighters he would advise Sunny Lon to do
The same thing to Ali according to Lewis there was an art to cutting off the ring and Lon had the right trainer in reddish to help him improve his ability to cut off the ring Lewis credited Jack Blackburn again as the man that taught him to cut off the ring he said that
Blackburn had revised his teachings after learning a few extra tricks from Sam Langford Lewis said that Sunny Lon must go to the body whenever he could anytime he could trap Ali Liston needed the also bang to the body Lewis concluded by telling the media kill the body and the head will die another
Subject that surfaced on May 19th was Muhammad Ali’s popularity According to some media members Ali was not as popular as he was making himself out to be Ali was compared to Jack Dempsey Joe Lewis and Rocky Marciano Ali told the media you just don’t know how popular I
Am I’m popular everywhere I go people love me and the little kids follow me people who meet me for the first time are surprised I’m so nice I get off my bus and meet people all over and they all heard of me most everybody never
Seen a world champion before I go out to meet them the only people that don’t like me is the power structure that would be boxing official and writers Ali told the writers that he doesn’t understand why they don’t like him when he gives them stories he told the media
That maybe he would get more respect if he treated the media the way Sunny Liston treats the media he reminded the media that they should appreciate him for giving them the interviews and giving them the stories and giving them juicy material to write about according to many of Ali’s critics he was not
Liked because of his mouth according to the media the most full heavyweight champions before Ali was John L Sullivan and Jack Johnson Sullivan once told onlookers that he can lick any man in the house Jack Johnson was another former heavyweight champion that did not hold his tongue in regards to him being
The best fighter in the world according to the media of 1965 Muhammad Ali had heightened the art of boasting to a new level according to multiple media members another reason Ali was not liked was because of his affiliation with the Nation of Islam when one of the writers
Brought up Ali’s religion Ali had a quick response when Joe Lewis was heavyweight champion the world he wasn’t considered the champion of the Baptists and he’s a Baptist Floyd Patterson is a Catholic when he was Champion he wasn’t considered champion of the Catholics so why should I be considered the
Representative of the Muslims I’m the champion of me Ali told the media that the Nation of Islam is ready to embrace Sunny Lon he told the media that after Lon loses everyone is going to continue to turn their back on list I’m going to
Talk to him in the ring and tell him I’m going to take him to one of our meetings we’ll have somebody for him because everybody else is going to let him down after he loses we got Brothers in Denver ready to talk to him now Ali did not
Attack Liston for calling him clay many of the old school Fighters had also still called Ali clay the two fighters that Ali didn’t accept calling him by his birth name was Floyd Patterson and Ernie Terell but Patterson and Terrell had also criticized Ali for being involved with the noi oi felt that
Patterson and Terrell was doing this to appease white people Liston stayed away from the subject altogether liston’s age came up again and everyone from the critics to people close to Liston said that Liston was well in his 40s and could have been born the same year Jack Dempsey won the heavyweight championship
Of the world these concerns would surface again decades later but there is plenty of documentation that supports this being a concern as early as liston’s first destruction of Floyd Patterson if it was true that Lon could have been born anywhere between 1919 and the early 1920s then Liston was perhaps
More than 20 years older than Muhammad Ali there are reports that one of liston’s older sisters said that he was born after the first world war but Liston had 25 siblings and reports are sketchy as to which siblings said this Liston was not a stably grounded child and could have easily missed census
Reporting or been reported at whatever age his mother reported him at for her convenience there’s not any proof that Len was in the home when he showed up on early 1930 census reporting the listed age of 31 did not add up to past arrest records according to the media of
1965 they had researched a variety of listed ages for listing when it came to pass arrest records from as early as the late 1940s into the early 1950s some said that Liston was doing well in training according to others what the media was reporting was not true the few
Times the media had showed up to watch Liston Spar it was against d-l sparring partners was team Liston holding something back Liston did not hold as many open training camps as Ali Liston acknowledged himself that Ali had spies coming in and out of his training camp
One of the reasons Ali was telling the media things like Liston was not running 7 miles a day was because Ally was said to have spies how far was Liston past his prime was Joe Lewis saying that Liston needed to get ally out early because Joe Lewis knew that liston’s
Best chances was in the earlier rounds liston’s trainer Willie reddish was doing a little talking but wasn’t communicating with the media very much there was also some concerns coming from liston’s team in regards to death threats Ali was receiving from Malcolm X supporters there was a rumor that some
Shootings may take place while Ali was in the ring with Liston bulletproof vests would be issued to Media men that would be close to the ring there was reports that Liston was also receiving death threats over the phone and in the mail from people that claim to be part
Of the noi some say he received death threats from a group of specially selected men in the noi called the fruit of Islam Liston was asked if he was threatened but refused to talk to law enforcement as Liston did not Rel like law enforcement what would Liston have
To gain from Ali’s beef with supporters of the late Malcolm X because of liston’s Personality he was not going to express concerns that can be interpreted as fear Liston was told that the place that gunmen would have a clear shot at Ali was when Ali was in the ring that
The situation regarding Malcolm X and the noi affect Sunny Liston did this group of what the media called strong armed goons from the noi called the fruit of Islam really threatened Liston Holly even received a letter that had the name of Sunny banks in it along with
Some other Fighters that had died over the past few years and according to threats in the letter Ali would be the next one to die Ali said he was not concerned and told the media that the people sending the letters were sick Ali did not appear to be very concerned
About Liston either and over the past few days had been talking more about Floyd Patterson according to the media Ali had threatened to send the fruit of Islam to pay Patterson a visit according to Ali the noi was a peaceful organization he would only be utilizing
This group of men called the fruit of Islam to enforce intimidation tactics on Floyd Patterson Ali threatened to have members of the fruit of Islam not only go to Patterson’s camp but he planned to buy all the tickets in the first five rows and fill the seats with the fruit
Of Islam to scar Patterson of course that’s if he was to beat Liston and ever even fight Patterson Ally also said that when he’s done with Patterson Patterson would have to wear his disguise for the rest of his life Floyd shouldn’t wear that beard think of what it could mean
To his children imagine his boy walking with his daddy and his daddy wearing a beard what’s the boy going to think of his daddy he should walk around proud with his head up so that his children should be proud of him that Floyd he’s too soft I say all these mean things
About him and then when I look up and smile at him he’s happy he forgives me he shouldn’t forgive me he should be mean and tough he should say he hates me and that he’ll whoop me in the ring he should be vicious aigh has got to be
Vicious at this time both olly and Liston had their pre-fight examinations the pre-i examinations was completed at their own training camps Liston was late receiving his examination but both Fighters checked out to be fully fit leading up to the fight the media had been trying to get hold of the outspoken
Former heavyweight champion of the world Jack Dempsey they would finally catch up with Dempsey on the 19th of May Dempsey had pumped the brakes on speaking negatively about ali after meeting Ali at a dinner and having a pleasant evening hanging out with the young heavyweight champion Dempsey told the
Media that oi knows how to fight but is not the greatest according to Dempsey the only thing that oi was the greatest at was trash talking Dempsey admitted that he does not think too highly of OI or Liston Dempsey told the media that it’s only natural for him to pick the
Younger fighter to win Dempsey was also highly respected and would get a lot of inside exclusive information on Fighters without even visiting their training camps most of these discussions took place at Jack Dempsey’s restaurant which we talked about in an earlier episode according to Dempsey Sunny listen was
Not in the kind of shape that liston’s team was reporting to the media Dempsey told the media if any fighter had quit in the old days and quit the way Liston did in that last fight the crowd would have torn the house apart on May 20th it was announced that 400 state troopers
Would be present along with 300 County and local Law Enforcement Officers to protect Alli from supporters of the late Malcolm X they was also there to protect the fight fans and sunny Lon media and any other people that was working at the fight after all the stories about
Marital problems Ali did did not allow the media to interview his wife there was one media man that was able to secure an interview with his wife sonji he was able to catch up with sonji while Ali was busy signing autographs and talking to the fans Ali had also been
Distracted by a visit from light heavyweight champion of the world Jose Torres Sanji agreed to be interviewed if the interview would be kept short according to sonji this would be the first live fight she has ever attended she told the media that she does not like like boxing and hates to see people
Get hurt she also said that she does not talk about boxing with Ali and that they mostly talk about their future recently she was living with Ali in Chicago in a nices siiz apartment she told a person interviewing her that she does not want to move back to Chicago and could care
Less if she ever goes to Chicago again she said that she was tired of living in apartments and wanted a big home with some land and a swimming pool away from the city and away from people according to to the man conducting the interview she appeared frightened and nervous that
She may have said too much and concluded the interview saying that she could not wait for the fight to end so she could steal her man and run away with him and hide somewhere it was also announced on the 20th that the third man in the ring in the upcoming heavyweight championship
Bout would perhaps be former heavyweight champion of the world Jersey Joe wcot as of May 20th the choice of referee was still not official but it appeared as though wcot was in the the Lee as a final Choice there was no doubt about it Ali was the more media friendly fighter
Between himself and Liston on May 20th liston’s attitude towards the media had not changed any Liston was not in the mood to speak with the media but did tell the media that only cowards run around in the ring the way Ali does he also said that Ali was afraid of him
Liston’s trainer Willie reddish was a little more talkative than normal Willie reddish said that Liston will apply more pressure and will be going to all ‘s body according to reddish and Liston Ali was going to run throughout the majority of the fight reddish said that Sunny would slow Ali down with a constant
Attack to Ali’s body reddish said that it may take six to seven rounds to wear Ali down and that Liston had been working on cutting off the ring one writer wrote that allly is not afraid of Liston and that part of liston’s strategy is the utilization of intimidation tactics that would be to
Defeat a fighter before the fighter end enters the ring in the past Liston would do this with an ice cold steer by mean mugging his opponents at pressers and at ways this tactic was not effective against Ali it didn’t work in the first fight according to this writer when
Liston’s bullying tactics don’t work Liston is at risk of being bullied himself as Lon loses confidence this media man covered the old example of the bully being turned into the bullied this had been found to happen with past Fighters considered as bullies and would happen with future Fighters that would
Be considered in the future to also be bullies there’s always a fighter out there that is not going to be afraid and not going to be intimidated therefore the bully must always be prepared for a fighter that is mentally strong enough to deal with the intimidation tactics
That comes from a bully plus Liston was being accused of quitting in the first bow the media didn’t think that this tactic was going to work with Ali and that Liston may be better off off by abandoning this tactic of trying to bully his opponents Liston continued to
Tell the media that he had wanted to continue in the first bout and that it was his Corner’s decision to stop the fight on May 21st 4 days before the big fight another announcement was made regarding security for the upcoming batt according to reports there would be an increase in previously reported numbers
Regarding law enforcement Ali continued to tell the media that Allah and The Honorable Elijah muham omed would protect him Liston continued to say nothing but there were members of the team that appeared to be worried about being close to the ring if and when the bullets would be fired at the squared
Circle surprisingly Liston was being nice to the people in Maine as well as the media he wasn’t very talkative but he wasn’t as mean as he usually is according to liston’s team Liston had changed for the better but was now the right time for listen to deviate from his recognized personality and embrace
More more of a nice guy role Liston had embraced this nice guy role before he did it after he defeated Floyd Patterson and they wanted to clean up his image as the new heavyweight champion of the world nearly every day the media would write articles based around liston’s
Personality many of the media people as well as the fight fans felt that Liston lacked a personality and that he was just a mean man that tried to intimidate anybody he came across some fight fans felt that Liston was being nicer than normal the ones who were talking like
This said that Liston needed the return to being mean the media was all over the place different media men had different opinions on liston’s personality but the ones who thought Liston was being too nice they wanted to see that angry man back that they saw in the late 1950s and
The earlier 1960s was team Liston attempting to push a softer image for sunny Lon one thing they could not change was the fact that Liston was now an older fighter and was not as explosive as he was in the 1950s and early 1960s nobody including Liston
Himself seemed to know how old Lon was Liston was also said to have two bad shoulders this was not the active Sunny Liston of 1958 through 1962 Liston became less active after defeating Floyd Patterson and winning the world heavyweight title with the inactivity came injuries not to mention Liston was
Far from a gym rat Liston lik to drink alcohol and hang out late nights the images of him smoking cigarettes would show up a few years later the rumors of drug use would also come a few years later but outside of drinking there was no reports of drug use or smoking in
1965 but liston’s dedication to the sport was questioned at times and so was Ali’s the difference is that Ali was perhaps 20 years or more younger than Liston Ali also did not drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes and in fact Ali did not do any kind of drugs Ali did however
Recently put on some weight so these two fighters did not appear to be Gym Rats but did Ali’s weight gain have more to do with Ally recently having hernia Ali was instructed by his physician not to train right away Oly had never put on that kind of weight before so now that
Oli was back in shape hopefully he would stay on top of his weight moving forward it was also being said that Ali had the mental Edge the media wrote articles in psychological warfare giving olly The Edge over listen as the old saying goes boxing is also mental and those that
Have a mental Edge have an advantage on Fight Night the media believed that one of Ali’s major strengths was his ability to get under liston’s skin verbally Ali was a better speaker than Liston and was levels above Liston in delivering Trash Talk Ali had been playing mental games
With Liston for nearly 3 years now and Liston seemed to let the trash talk bother him more as time went by Ali had not been trash talk and listen as bad as he did in the buildup to the first fight but Ali was still talking and the talk
Still appeared to bother Liston Liston was again asked by the media why he still calls Ali clay Liston told the media he met him as clay and will always call him clay Ali was asked about Liston refusing to acknowledge Him by Ali and had nothing to say about Sunny Lon once
Again Ali must have had reasons as to why he never held Liston to the same standards that he held Patterson and Ernie Terrell to when Ali was asked about Liston calling him clay instead of calling Liston an Uncle Tom or a sellout he just stuck to his usual attack with
Liston which usually had something to do with being a big ugly bear according to an unnamed brother with the Noy Liston did not possess the traits of an Uncle Tom and perhaps his beatings and disrespect towards law enforcement was the only answer they needed also Liston did not seem to be going out
Of his way to call oi clay in a condescending manner that could be compared to the way Patterson and Terrel used the name clay the news continued to come out on May 21st WBA heavyweight champion of the world Ernie Terell would request a circuit court order to prevent
Mohammad Ali from calling himself the heavyweight champion of the world Terrell was also suing Ali and five people promoting the upcoming bout between oi and Liston Terrell was asking for 1 .5 million in Damages according to Terrell Ali’s claim in regards to being called the heavyweight champion was
Taking money out of his pockets a hearing was scheduled to take place within the next day it was also reported that team Liston had offered the WBA Champion Terrell $1,000 a day to be the chief sparm partner for Liston and that Terrell had turned the offer down believing that as the heavyweight
Champion he is no longer a sparm partner but Terrell needed some extra cash and he was not making the paydays that Ali and Liston was making Floyd Patterson was also receiving more money than Ernie Terrell Terrell believed in himself and thought that his time to make big
Paydays was coming soon Joe Lewis jersey Joe wcot and James bradoock had been visiting the training camp of Sunny Lon over the past few days now that the fight was only three days out the three Legends visited Ali Ali spoke to the Legends as he trained especially Joe
Lewis as Ali jumped the Rope he called Joe Lewis the greatest heavyweight champion of all times but he also told Joe Lewis to give him five years and he would top the legacy of Joe Lewis as olly jumped rope and talked to Joe Lewis Lewis said nothing and smiled Ally also
Joked with Lewis and tried to get Lewis in the ring with him to spar Lewis laughed and declined ever see a heavyweight as fast as I am Joe come on there ain’t been a heavyweight as fast as me has there LS said nothing he just continued to laugh and smiled as Oli
Joked around with him olly also sparred with Jimmy Ellis for two rounds and even hurt Ellis with the right hand while olly was in Camp he was sent some gifts from Sunny Lon with a message to mouth Almighty from Sunny Lon Ali did not reveal to the media what was in the
Packages sent from Sunny Lon but the media did verify the card that was sent from Sunny Lon they had also visited liston’s Camp Liston continued to go through long drills on cutting off the ring with his trainer Willie reddish reddish was impatient and was doing a
Lot of yelling Liston did not argue and did what he was asked to do that had not always been the case in the past also Canadian heavyweight George Shalo was back in the news Shalo was in town and he wanted to fight with the winner between Oly and Lon the only problem for
Chavalo was that Floyd Patterson was being promised a title shot if Ali won and Ernie Terrell was being told that he would probably get a shot if Liston won chalo’s plan was to visit the training camps of both Ali and Liston within the next few days and on the second floor of
The building which you see behind the heavyweight champion of the world and myself is the ring where the champion trains and I suspect that the viewers would like to see you work out today just 3 days before the bout Cham shall we go up yeah let’s go let’s let them
Get the last look and then they’ll know how to bet the money with the usual modesty the champion speaks let’s move float like a butterfly sting like a bee words by trainer Drew bundini Shir by step and fetch it and of course this is Angie dunde who is really the manager
Of the heavyweight champion of the world and Angie I trust you’ll join me in commentary as we watch the champion workout Angie why against a light heavyweight well I wanted to see this is a new wrinkle from the last fight I wanted to see if he out speed a lighter
Man it appears to me that he’s adopting the same tactics he did in the first fight moving steadily to the left well there’s no sense in changing success my spies in listens Camp tell me he’s in great shape which is good I want him to knock out the best listens go this is
What he will do come May 25th he’ll knock him out he’ll knock him out in 11 or 12 rounds is there anything Liston can do to neutralize Clays footwork only thing listen can do is try to get lucky always keep moving to the Left fought that way the first time the
Jersey Joe and sugaray technique well he can he can go the other way too where is the side to side Action Man he’ll show it to you I H your side to side you asked me for there it is all right bang he dropped the right in now if that was in
Front of a bigger man he would have would have surrounded him Well Angie that wraps up the chance sparring for the day just two rounds that’s correct he’s he’s there now and we don’t want to leave it here thanks a Millian for your commentary 22nd 1965 the media continued
To report on the possibility of violence occurring at the fight the media wrote stories on armed men that were supporters of the late Malcolm X according to the media these men wanted revenge for the assassination of Malcolm X as each day pass reported numbers in armed security increased the last thing
The promoters wanted was for the numbers to drop regarding attendance the newspapers were quick to let the fight fans know that security would be on site and would be ready to counter any violence that may occur outside of the Ring it was also on the 22nd of May that
Sunny Lon was in rear form Sunny Liston had been nice to the people in Maine but was not very talkative when it came to the media it was on this day sunny Lon had jokes he made jokes about Law Enforcement Officers being better in Leon Maine than law enforcement officers
In Denver Colorado Liston said that he was more successful on the water fishing in Lewiston than he was back in Denver Liston also spoke on the WBA and the treatment he has received from them over the past year again the WBA had stripped oi of the title and removed Liston from
The rankings the wba’s new Champion Ernie Terrell was not selling many tickets and did not appear to be gaining much popularity Terrell was now calling for a fight with the winner of OI versus Liston and if Terrell could get his wish then some may have asked what was the
Point of removing listen from the WBA rankings to begin with the WBA had not only removed the two most popular heavyweights from their sanction EMB body but many boxing experts and insiders had also lost respect for the WBA the majority of boxing experts and fight fans of this era prefer to see a
Fighter lose their belt in the ring Liston concluded by saying that he believes he will stop Ali but said that he believes he could also win a decision if Ali decides to run Liston was also asked if he would be prepared for a wild
Weigh in as the fight was now 3 days out Liston said that he was not worried about Ali’s mouth and said that he didn’t mind the trash talk as long as oi didn’t open his mouth too wide and blow another hernia Liston also said that he
Was in great shape and that his hurt shoulder was now healed one obvious change was the presence of Floyd Patterson’s former trainer custado custado was not on liston’s team but was visiting and had an opinion cus was known as the trainer SL manager that did not hold his Tong he had a strong
Opinion and personality and appeared to take a liking to Sunny Lon in fact cus was was a man that interacted well with current and past criminals he had no fear and at times could verbally be aggressive towards the media as well as the fighters according to cus Sunny was
More consistent in his style of fighting cus said that Ali was a very good fighter and that Ali has matured over the past few years cus agreed with old school fighter and now listing trainer Willie reddish that Liston would have to cut the ring off effectively but said
That Liston has to throw two two or three punches at a time against Ali top Contender George chavalo was also visiting liston’s training camp and said that Liston looked a little slow in the ring but did appear to look dangerous and appeared to be in good shape Shalo
Told another set of reporters that he was not impressed with Liston but said that Liston knew he was watching and perhaps did not want to display as much of his skill set as he could have Shalo was having difficulty finding fights even though he had lost to Floyd
Patterson Patterson was banged up after the fight and had suffered three broken ribs Shalo wanted to fight the winner between olly and Liston but so did all the other top heavy weights it appeared pretty obvious that chavalo would not be next in line when Liston heard what
Chavalo said about him being slow Liston responded by asking the media if they know the story of The Tortoise and the ha when asked about a possible upcoming fight with Shalo Lon said that right now he’s only focused on Ali Sunny Liston also remained an 8 to5 favorite a few
Days out from the fight the media continued to question Ali’s heart in regards to threats coming from Malcolm X followers Ali continued to say that he feared no man Ali told the media that there was only two times in his life that he displayed fear he admitted to
Being nervous and displaying a little fear while at the 1960 Olympic Games the other time he admitted to being afraid was when an incident between him and sunny Lon took place around some gambling tables in Las Vegas during that incident Sunny Liston had pulled out a gun moving back to security regarding
The upcoming rematch according to the newspapers oi now had armed security in his presence at all times there was law enforcement and noi Security in Ali’s presence law enforcement also kept their eyes on Sunny Lon Liston was not too fond of Law Enforcement Officers but on this occasion law enforcement was said
To be looking out for him when he was asked to speak on the increase in police activity the media would not receive any response from Liston he would usually walk away from those type of questions with no expression also the hearing had finally took place considering the WBA Champion Ernie Terrell’s lawsuit against
Muhammad Ali Terrell did not want Oly to call himself the heavyweight champion of the world and was also seeking $1.5 million in Damages the assigned judge was not impressed and dismissed Terrell’s lawsuit against Ali for the use of the word Champion Terrell received nothing in Damages as the judge
Ruled that Terrell’s attorneys did not demonstrate adequate proof of damage on Terrell’s behalf maybe it would be best for Terrell to go back to the drawing board and figure out why he was not a big draw many of Terrell’s critics said it was Terrell’s grabbing whole fighting style even Sunny Liston spoke on
Terrell’s recent actions and said that Terrell is no kind of champion and going to court is a disgraceful way to handle his lack of appeal former heavyweight champions bradock Lewis and wcot attended one of liston’s last workouts before the fight the sparm partner imitating Ali was Wendell Newton Newton
Was a lanky youngster from the Bahamas Liston sparred both Newton and the main sparring partner Amos big train Lincoln According to some media members Liston did not look good in the sparring session Liston sparred Newton a few rounds and could not even seem to land a
Glove on Newton Joe Lewis got up in the middle of the sparring session shaking his head and headed out to the golf course Lewis was asked if Liston looked slow and Lewis replied stating that Liston had always been slow but according to Lewis Liston was supposed
To be learning to cut off the ring better and failed to display any Improvement in fact Liston threw a Hard Punch at Newton and missing by a mile almost landed on the floor himself May 23rd 2 days before the big battle as of the 23rd Liston was now being reported
To be anywhere between a 7 to5 and 9 to-5 favorite to win the battle a few few weeks ago Liston was said to be doing well in training over the past few days there had been some reports of listen looking slow there was also an unidentified source that reported Liston
Had not looked good throughout the full camp and that his main Spar partner Amos big train Lincoln had been paid extra cash to make Liston look good once again top rated heavyweight George chavalo had visited liston’s camp and reported that Liston looked slow and that he was not
Impressed by what he saw while watching Sunny Liston train Joe Lewis had been all over the place at times as to reporting how Liston looked in training over the past few days Joe Lewis didn’t seem to want to answer any questions regarding how Sunny Liston was looking
In training Joe Lewis did not appear to be too happy with what he had been seeing recently coming from Sunny Liston and training camp former heavyweight champions Archie Moore and Jack Dempsey who both had inside sources said that the reports regarding Liston being in the best shape of his life was not true
Jersey Joe Walcott who was being considered as a ref and had actually visited both camps didn’t say much even with all the Talks Of Violence the fight fans in Leon seemed to be happy that the fight was taking place in their town in fact the whole state of Maine had not
Had a title fight since Henry Armstrong fought Paul Jr over 25 years earlier the legendary Armstrong was now a minister and also was spending time teaching young Fighters how to fight when Armstrong was asked who he favors in the fight Armstrong said that he was going
To go with the younger man also in the 23rd of May Ali’s 1960 Olympic trainer Julius Menendez dropped some gems on the public regarding Ali according to Menendez Ali is a more vulnerable fighter during the early rounds in the fight the longer a fight goes the tougher the fight gets for his opponents
According to his past trainer Ali is mentally strong and has the ability to turn fear into anger he said that Ali trash talks to psych himself up and that this is one of the ways Ali handles his own fears Menendez elaborated he said that Ali will avoid keeping a fight at
Close range for as long as he can by popping out a jab and fighting on his toes once he has his opponents timing down and his opponent tires out some then he likes to fight in mid-range Ali finally arrived in Leon main on the 24th he traveled in his private bus without
Police protection however he did have prote ction that was provided by the Nation of Islam he was greeted by former heavyweight champions James bradock and Jersey Joe welcott he met with the media shortly after a Rifal people think we crazy then keep thinking listen they crazy let them keep thinking it listen they crazy we are crazy ladies and gentlemen we are being attacked by Highway Bandits they are now approaching us on their horses what do you say stward just you mean the plane
Is going to crash see a prayer recite a Bible verse well I don’t know no Bible verse just do something religious I’ll take up a collection know it’s a beautiful place you have in it nice very nice layout beautiful ready the battle and tell all those people out
There in England the battel will leave tomorrow night and the price is right where’s the bad yo you didn’t see the B Jersey Joe wat PR danc look at here Joe where y’all going now going up to okay well I want you to do something if again tell the bear got one chel
Read about this’s boy that was a great fight that man was so fast his we beat they think I’m done see they think I’m done that’s list Boys the biggest thing in the world coming up tomorrow I’m spending my time with you thank initially olly did not spend too much time speaking about listen he told the media he wants the beer and then he wants the hear when Ali said the hear he was referring to former
Heavyweight champion of the world Floyd Patterson 250 to 300 people gathered up at the holiday in to hear Ali speak according to the media Ali spent the majority of his time speaking on his only fears being Allah and The Honorable Elijah Muhammad Ali received some negative feedback for this but Ali
Wanted the people to know that he had no intentions on leaving the n why and that he was happy being one of the brothers he thanked Elijah Muhammad for his success and said that he would not be where he was at without Elijah Muhammad and Allah Ali did take a little time out
To speak on Liston being the favorite he said that he did not understand how Liston could be the favorite in this fight especially after what he did to Liston in the first fight many of the people that had visited both camps were saying Ali looked better in training
Though ink to be in good shape Liston had been receiving some criticism and was being said to look slow and old in training Oly had been speaking on a surprise throughout the buildup but every time the media asked Ali what the surprise was Ali would say that if he
Told the fight fans they may not come to the fight the only thing close to a prediction Ali made was that the fight would not go 10 Rounds he said that he had no plans to go looking for sunny Lon before the fight and said that he does
Not want to scare Liston into being a noow so he did not intend on crashing Liston training camp or putting too much focus in the trash talk Ali and his wife spent some time in their suite and then Ali left his room there was media and security all over the place Ali again
Spoke to the media his attention was now back on Sunny Liston according to Ali Liston was not a very smart guy he asked the media how can Liston get arrested and go around wrestling a dozen cops all the way to the police station Ali said that he himself was recently stopped for
Speeding and didn’t even have his driver’s license Oly told the media that he yeser the police all the way to the police station he said that by the time he got to the police station he was told by law enforcement that he had been so obedient that they let him go according
To Ali loud mouth and the police makes things worse and knowing how to talk to a police officer May prevent a person from being arrested the media again asked Ali if he was planning another outburst at tomorrow’s weighin similar to the Outburst that came at the weighin before the first fight according to
Angelo dunde alli’s actions had to do with playing a mental game on Liston his plan back then was to get Liston worked up so that Lon would be overly aggressive and available for counters according to Dundee when Liston went into the first fight angry he abandoned everything he had worked on in
Preparation and threw his shoulder out trying to get to Ali nobody knew for sure what Ali had in store the next time he met Liston face to face with which would be at tomorrow’s weigh-in he reminded the media that he had stayed away from liston’s camp for this fight
And said that he has something planned for everyone at tomorrow’s weighin Ali also told the media that Liston was scared regarding all the threats the media reported that Ali was receiving from the black nationalists he made sure to point out that Liston was not even a
Target and that Liston was the only one between the two of them that was afraid Ali said that the only living man he feared was The Honorable Elijah Muhammad he held up pictures of Elijah Muhammad and this would not be the last time he displayed the images Ali told the media
That he did not care much for all the police activity surrounding the fight according to Ali it was lison that now loved the police officers he told the media to watch Liston at tomorrow’s weigh-in and they will see the fear coming from Liston Ali then made his way
Around the pool at the Holiday end he told the few media members that he has to defeat Sunny Liston or his career as a fighter will be over according to Ali if he loses due to his affiliation with the noi he would never receive a another title shot Liston had also told the
Media that he will never fight Ali again no matter the outcome Liston said that Ali has too much going on in his life for him to fight Ali again according to the boxing Commission in the state of Maine a referee had been selected for the bow the referee would not be
Announced until right before the fight rumor haded the referee could end up being one out of two former heavyweight champions of the World perhaps James bradoock or Jersey Joe wcot both former Champions had been around throughout the buildup of the fight and the media had already printed several stories on one
Of the two pass Fighters being considered to officiate the fight over in the UK it was announced by the British Broadcasting Corporation that Ali vers Liston to would be the first time that a major American sporting event would be televised live live in Great Britain the transmission will be
Scheduled to occur by way of early bird satellite also on May 24th bad news for Sunny Liston a court had ordered that liston’s 30% share of the gate would be held due to failures to complete contractual engagements in England and Scotland any other money paid to Liston would not be affected Liston was
Expected to lose an estimated $70,000 $70,000 was a lot of money to lose in the year of 1965 the critics gave their opinions all the way up to the fight there was those that said the ringside observers were at risk considering all the reported threats that had been coming in between black
Nationalist supporters of the late Malcolm X and the noi even Martin Luther King had offered his services to resolve the issues going on between the groups at odds there was talk about gunfire and bombs one point that was made was that there had been fighters in the past that
Had been threatened by guns Fighters that had been ordered to take a dive whether it had to do with mob activity or color lines but the threats that occurred in the past had been inhouse and were not reported before the fight if a Fighter’s life had been threatened
The threat stayed behind the scenes and away from the media would fear keep fight fans from attending the fight was the media overreacting all of this remained to be seen May 25th the day of the fight on the 24th Ali had told the media that he would not have
Much to say to listen he also said that he would have a surprise at the weighin for Liston Charles Sunny Lon the avenging ex Champion was the first guy in the ring at weigh-in time 37 fights 25 Knockouts 10 by decision lost only two times and then then bouncing all the
Way from his dressing room the title holder Miss Cash’s CL came down loose and limber let’s try to pick up some of the weigh-in sounds for you5 and 15 and a quarter 25 and one quar 25 get correction 25 and a quarter listed 25 and a quarter listed
Sunny was first guy on the scales as you see and he was 2 and 3/4 lb lighter than the last time out 25 and a quarter and the champion got on the scale surprisingly light surprisingly low 26 well both Fighters were very confident casual extra muscle for about
A thousand faithful fans that that watched the way in ceremonies then he started Shadow Boxing in front of Sunny Lon telling Sunny what he was going to do tonight right now the night of the big fight what do we think hold on and you’ll get a pretty good idea of exactly
What’s going to happen those are the weigh-in ceremonies that’s the story of Le that’s the story of the big fight the weigh-in took place oi weighed in at 206 lb and Liston weighed in at 215 lbs both Fighters weighed less than they weighed in the first fight as the two fighters
Stood by the scale Ali Shadow boxed and there was some mild Trash Talk between him and list Ally spent some time telling Liston how fast he was and told Liston he was going to whoop him Lon yelled at olly and told him to shut his mouth and vowed to take
Care of Ali during the fight as Liston stepped on the scale Ali moved in to take a close look Lon mean mugged Ali the whole time but Ali did not appear to be one bit intimidated listen told Ali I’m going to beat you and all your black Muslim friends tonight Ali responded and
Told listen I’m going to beat you so bad you will join us after after the fight in the past Liston had used mean Muggin as a way to win the fight before the actual fight took place Lon himself called it the eye he gave what he
Referred to as the eye to past opponents and to Media men these tactics did not work with Ali Ali would always ask listen questions like what are you looking at you big black beer Fighters that utilize intimidation tactics will always meet a fighter that those tactics do not work against Liston should have
Remember remembered that from the first fight there was no doubt about it Liston would have to be on his aame to beat the young undefeated Muhammad Ali Ali had also ran into heavyweight Contender George chavalo Shalo was at the weighin he was going to be at the fight and he
Was seeking a fight against the winner now one thing about Shalo is that Shalo had never minded given the trash talk back to Ali the two did indeed participate in some trash talking even though Ally was getting ready to fight Sunny Lon he acknowledged George chavalo and they participated in some verbal
Sparring but as of now Liston was next in line as oi had to fight him later that night and then Floyd Patterson if Ally could defeat Lon if Liston won there was a good chance that he would be fighting Ernie Terrell who was the WBA champion of the world Ali’s parents had
Also arrived in town they were still at odds with Ali over his affiliation with the Nation of Islam Ali’s father said that he wishes his son would have presented himself more like Joe Lewis and that Joe Lewis was always Ali’s hero his father said that Ali would have to
Figure out the Noy’s flaws on his own his mother told the media that Ali was lost and was also afraid to separate from Elijah Muhammad his parents would not hold their tongues it appeared as though Ali attempted to limit his parents’ time around the media but Ali could not regulate conversations between
His parents in the media he was able to do that better with his wife sonji when she was around him but his parents would never hold their Tong it was no secret oi’s parents did not approve of the noi they did not support Oly and his brother
Being part of the noi but Oli was Now 23 years old and appeared to be happy with his place in the organization regardless of their criticisms Ali showed his parents respect and did not elaborate on their disapproval of the noi the noi members that were around Ali had nothing
To say about Ali’s parents threats had came up again the day of the fight Ali this time displayed two pictures and said that the only two men he was afraid of Was Elijah Muhammed and Elijah’s messenger the media kept the stories coming in on the beef between the black
Muslims and the black nationalist affiliated with Malcolm X law enforcement officers and private security had showed up in high numbers there was so many guns in the environment that the last thing anyone in attendance needed was an attempt on anyone’s life to take place Holly’s popular po it continued to grow day by
Day most heavyweights wanted to fight with Ali as Ali was a cash cow fighter there was a fighter from out of North Carolina Tugboat Thomas his name was and he was interested in making a comeback he wanted some work with Mohammad Ali and was told that he would be considered
For an exhibition match with oi after The Liston fight he had offered Ali his Services as a spar partner before the listen bout but was not considered at the time to join Ali’s Camp Tugboat Thomas told told the locals in Charlotte that he would be present at the closed
Circuit showing of the heavyweight title fight and that he had been promised an exhibition against Ali if Ali wins the fight according to Thomas that exhibition will never take place because Liston is too much of a man for Ali Thomas said that Ali was very lucky to
Had won the first fight he said the reason Ali won the first fight is because Liston was injured in the first fight Thomas told the reporters that Liston will knock Ali out in this fight and he along with several other heavyweights thought that Liston would win the rematch Thomas also thought that
There was a few other heavyweights that could beat Ali including himself he said that he had been dreaming about fighting Floyd Patterson since Patterson won the heavyweight championship of the world according to Tugboat Thomas if he ever got the chance to fight Patterson he would knock Patterson out cold but
Thomas was just another one of several heavyweights that had their say in the upcoming fight between Oly and Lon it appeared as though most of the heavyweights favored Liston but there was a few out there that also favored Ali now one thing that they did seem to
Have in common as far as the other heavyweights in the division the majority of them thought that both Liston and Ali was overrated May 25th 1965 Fight Night had finally come former heavyweight champion of the world Jersey Joe wcot had been assigned the referee for the main event the night was filled
With action as there was a lot of knockouts on the card both Sunny Liston and Ali had sparring partners fighting on the undercard Ali’s sparring partner Jimmy Ellis was fighting in the light heavyweight division Ellis would stop and conclude 1940s throwback fighter Joe blackwood’s career in one round Ali’s
Farm partner Cody Jones would lose a decision to a young fighter named Mel turnbow O’s brother also won his fight by second round knockout then there was liston’s sparm partner Amos big train Lincoln he would knock out Hartford conect iuts Abe Davis in the very first
Round the talk was over oi vers Liston 2 had been being built for over a year the WBC belt would be on the line also recognized was the New York State athletic commission belt and the ring heavyweight title do anybody need any ice huh get up [Applause] [Applause]
My right side’s better than my left safe for the weekend [Applause] now [Applause] Okay go ahead I’m coming man soon what’s your name play now bouncing in from the dressing room on the far side of the Arena you can just about picture him at the top of your screen or on the center of your screen as cashes again loose and
Limber with his very short Terry Glo robe coming into the ring up the ring stairs and he’s being booed one of the top contenders for Heavyweight Championship honors the popular heavyweight champion of Canada George Chalo retired featherweight Champion Sandy Sadler one one of the greatest fway champions of all time Willie
P L crown light heavyweight champion Jose Tores former heavyweight King the Cinderella Man James J pra the only man ever to regain the heavyweight title two time heavyweight champion of the world Floyd Patterson former heavyweight champion from boster Jack shaki retired undefeated heavyweight King Rocky Maran ladies and gentlemen the brown B Joe
Lois and the referee ladies and gentlemen the former heavyweight champion of the world Jayy Joe w he weighs 25 and a quarter the former heavyweight champion at now the Challenger Sunny l l Sunny Lon very popular with the folks here in Lewis the main no kidding about that
206 the heavyweight champion of the world Mohamed Ali ladies and gentlemen Mohamad J joh will now give the instructions Mohammad Ali better known as Cash’s clay let’s listen to the referee I’m not going to go with a lot of preliminaries I know you both know
The rules and mean so I’m in here to enforce them so I’ll say to you keep your punches up protect yourself a l times good luck shake hands come out fighting if you’re going to score with us well get your pencil and Pad handy we’re waiting for that Bell for round
One here we go the Bell would ring and both Fighters would throw punches right away with Liston throwing a left hand and Ali throwing a right hand Ali got up on his toes with his arms hanging down Ali appeared to be finding a comfortable distance between himself and Liston to
Launch an attack it also looked as though oi was attempting to bait the slower Liston to throw punches so that Ali could counter off of liston’s attack you note that cashes wants to stay out in the center of the Ring where he happens to be the King Sunny Lon in the dark trunks is chasing that and straight away is that a mistake Liston threw out a few lazy Jabs and did not appear to be trying very hard to cut off the ring as Liston was moving forward oi landed a right hand a right hand shot that you
Saw that was the best punch thus far landed by the Champion we note that early halfway through this first round that Sunny is is shoot after the right hand Liston started to let his hands go but compared to the 23-year-old Ali Liston was slow eventually Liston stepped in with a stiff jab and Ali stepped back quickly sprung forward and
Landed a right hand over liston’s jab this punch would knock Liston down Lon rolled over got to his right knee and then fell on his back again the referee Joe wcot asked Ali to go to to a neutral corner and Ali was not following the referee’s instructions and was screaming
At Liston to get up and calling Liston a sucker and a bum Liston did get up but the ref Joe wcot could not hear the timekeeper wcot left the fighters so that he could hear what the timekeeper was saying the action continued just long enough for wcot to hear that Liston
Was counted out of the fight and that the fight was over Walcott returned to the fighters and ended the action a wave of controversy with instantly come after the stoppage the fans started booing and chanting the fight was fixed and fake the majority of paying fight fans was
Upset a few Senators was asking the main boxing commission to complete a fullscale investigation Ali told the media that the surprise that he had been talking about was the anchor punch he told the media that he knew he was going to knock Liston out in the very first
Round he also said that he was never worried about any violence taking place and that Sunny Lon was more afraid of the the threats than he was that first round he’s now talking to the Press we have the entire Mutual network of over 800 stations 80 million listeners in with our closed circuit
Audience Mohammad Ali better on this cashes play Mohammad what was the punch that wanted for you you’re a real champion at this point well the punch won to fight for me uh was a left hook or the right cross and one of the two I really can’t think because I was moving
Too fast a left hook or a right cross that’s right all right now did you think you were going to be able to do it in the first round you did it in six rounds last time didn’t I tell the world that I had a surprise and that if I told you the
Surprise you would not come to the fight with me was Almighty Allah and his messenger and I’ve been uh saying my PR regular living right right and as you see what happened oh wait a minute now let me ask you this if I may cash wait a
All right wait wait a minute okay right Mohammed tell me this uh did you think did Liston hit you with any kind of shot that that may be hurt you and he whack toward the body no he hit at my body but he hit my arms instead he hit your arms
Instead I’m a little too fast Steve to be hit you seem very confident at the beginning why were you that confident coming out I’m confident because with me and his messenger Elijah Muhammad all right now muhamad tell me tell me this what did you really not him out with the
Left hook and the right well I would like to see the video tape if you have it all right do we have the video tape yes we do all right we have the video tape and let’s try for viewers all over the world see what we have we’re going
To run it back I believe in slow motion don’t lean on me fellas please if you don’t mind this is a hectic scene but now look you get that after jacket no that’s that’s a beauty thank you Angelo you must be a happy guy while we’re
Waiting for this tape to be replayed uh Muhammad uh who would you like to go against next well I guess we’ll get the rabbit FL P next he wants to beat me up there you are there you are let me let me see what can now there’s the
Beginning of the they cut it on fast motion we don’t need no it’s slow motion because we want to entertain the folks we want them to see what you just understand I ended so fast you want them to get the get something for the money
Huh yes I do all right now this is the beginning of the of the first round Jersey Joe Walcott’s the referee now what was that a right over a left that’s that fast right hand that no heavyweight in the world have now that left hook did
That jar the guy I don’t know Steve I didn’t feel that now look now look did you did you improve with the right look at that beautiful Grace fella you’ve never seen a man in history move like this notice that ain’t that beautiful dodging all of those powerful punches
You notice I’m floating like a butterfly and sing like a bee that’s the old saying well well that is your old saying what are you are you beautiful are you Mar none of them was no prettier look at the time look all right now cashes were you Mohammad were you fainting this guy
At any time well Steve I fainted him a few times now look we we stopped our cameras we stopped our cameras and there’s Sunny moving toward you with what he considers his big bombs did you think he’d be able to lower the B TR to
Have big bums but as you see with those bums he couldn’t find nothing to heit he couldn’t now I noticed you got out of close range pretty fast knock knock was that your battle plan here’s the knockout no no come on well Mohammad tell us now what was your batt plan I’m
Just watching him letting him throw a few punches he’s strong now he’s got a lot of energy let him try himself out a little miss a few fill him out when a man misses punches he loses confidence and uh as you see I’m just floating around taking my time watching him
Listening to the people booy as you know the world Listen was a gangster a criminal but now as you know everybody was for him I guess I was the villain although I’m live a righteous life I was the villain so I guess God just just wanted the world to see that no Wicked
Evil criminal can whoop a righteous ManUp what did you do there with your feet beautiful footwork I was getting ready to come in there with a pretty right but he was in the way he was in the way yes I must say this was a easy
Payday my shape was so good uh it really surprised me I came in now you’re going to hit him watch closely watch closely is it a right hand counter you tell us what it is I think it was a right-and counter not the left hook that you
Talked about a while ago was it I tell you that listen said in my PO I want the world to know that I apologize this kid is so fast he can’t be touched you know now watch this watch closely he’s still the aggressor at least moving toward you
This a scientific action you feel I’m a creative fighter just throwing a taking my time and watching him knocking out the man is a little afraid all of this talk about somebody coming in the arena with bombs and machine guns scared him to death it didn’t scare me but it
Scared him well now bodini there it is that was the right hand counter let’s watch it let’s watch it a right hand counter as I saw Steve you have never saw the real Muhammad Ali I haven’t had time to warm up yet you haven’t I haven’t had time to just sit
Down let’s look at it again now that right hand was good he aims toward the belly he hit you under the heart there yeah I didn’t feel it you didn’t no let’s watch it I thank Allah for his messenger Elijah Muhammad for giving me the confident to conquer all of this
Fear they tried to put in me here tonight I don’t want this describe this to us here he’s coming toward you he’s moving in you counter I think I know I blocked just blocked that right hand with my elbow see I’m you notice my guard is
Down I can’t be hit because I have split sack of timing with footwork and head work all right now watch it here it goes in my opinion as I look back halfway through this first round or a little better he’s off balance I’m I’m glad you
Showing this in slow motion I see why now so fast I I don’t guess you can see me in real action H you’re too tough for me you’re too tough for me to see all right let’s be looking closely long time in slow motion for this to
Happen right hand right hand hurt him right hand right hand out what was it right hand out did you think he was getting up oh I don’t I I knew he would fall early but I wanted it to be about 3 or 4 minutes later why are you standing over to tell
The bum to get up and fight why you doing that tell me Why did I tell you didn’t I tell you hold hold don’t say nothing didn’t I tell you my poem listen said this time I’m a bigger fool I’m flat on my back instead of the St and I be dead if it’s not right and right now there’s a man in
The ring George chavalo and there he is who wants to fight the heavyweight champion he’s ready at that moment he may get the next shot indeed this may be a new beginning that’s the story of the big fight Muhammad Ali Against Hey hey hey hey hey hey hey because a man naturally looks bad when he fight me he’ll lock out Floy Patterson the same punches he came me at me with would have knocked out Floyd patteron answer and one more thing I want you fellas to know as you heard Johnny add introduce
Me I don’t I’m asking you in a nice way the world is watching and uh I want to have a lot of I want you to respect it and I would like for you to call me by my name now Muhammad why didn’t you go to a neutral
Corner well I was excited and uh I wanted him to get up see I only got warmed up I didn’t get touched on my face Harley and I wanted to do a little boxing I wanted some action how soon do you want to fight P this is
Not the rule well we can well I guess I’m not the champ then I broke the rule now what you going to do so what I do the r do have a rematch for that how soon do you want to fight what I don’t care the minute he hit the floor I heard
They said fix you can hear the r do you hear them people fix heard I heard say fix fix soon as he fa I said get up come on I mean I mean fix I don’t know nothing about no fix I mean I want to fight that’s what I’m doing why did you
Keep throwing punches at him after the well he let us come back but it was over he didn’t know it I heard the camp was over what you think at that moment I thought that he just they let him go back again you know how heavyweight title is they don’t really stop nothing
To he’s the man that counted 10 I figured he counted eight or nine or or whatever it was it wasn’t to 10 and they would give him another chance you know fellas come back two and three times why did you not go to a neutral Corner when
That was a violation of the rule well really to tell you the truth I wasn’t thinking about a neutral corner and uh I haven’t been used to going to neutral Corners you know they just stopped my fights before I’ve never been in the habit of going to neutral corners and
Waiting my men in such a shape whe they’re cut up so or they’re shook up so until they stop whether it’s on the floor on the stool or in the center of a ring badly beaten I’m not used to going to corners and waiting and I just wanted
To just go do you think you’re a better fighter you are a better fighter oh yeah what I want to say to you is I’m growing you you you’ve been reading about me but uh I’m growing see I’m only 23 I’ll be getting harder until I’m 25
Seasoned you notice I was a more seasoned fighter this time no ducking and running and I’m just taking my time and using my weight and my big shoulders I’m spreading see and there will be many a one round knockout coming up you have a have a great future and you have a lot
Of uh surprises coming that list would be flat on his back instead of the sto look man that’s his something think about a’t it sunny list oh I know I can hear the I can hear the wios and the hobos and the little people who bet the nickel and the
Dollars in the pool room now he’s a bad man ain’t he he hit that b so hard don’t never bet against him no more I don’t know what he’s going to do he told us to get there early I know a lot of people miss the fight walking around you know
We have people that like to to fights late showing off the pretty suits you know all the players you know they missed the fight you know oh shoot said it was a fair punch Sunny did the punch surprise you clay say clay says it was a new tactic the
Counter right it was a surprising punch trying to listen for the count and uh and then what what happened after that never the wock never came over what happened what what did he hit you with hand right hand Sunny uh what happened uh when you tried to get up and
Uh you think that the fight was stopped before it should have been what happened when you tried to get up do you think the fight would stopped before it should have been well uh only thing I was trying to pick up the count he was
Trying to pick up the count did you hear the count did you know what no I didn’t you didn’t hear the count he didn’t hear the count didn’t know what it was there was no count he couldn’t hear it fight well I thought the fight was still going because we had start
Fighting again did you see that say anything to walk I thought the Bell had run he got up he did not know he was counted out no one told him that the cter N had been reached or count to 10 and I think that that this man is being
Maligned when they say the things about him that they said it was not his fault my name is damato C deato look I don’t care whose fault it wasn’t liston’s fault he did not know what count it was and he he intended to arise and he proved it by arising and he
And he did did resume fighting and then was informed it was too late he had no way of knowing that he was counted that the count by The Time Keeper had ended the fight as far as he was concerned he did not know that the count had even reached
Nine the count automatically begins when he hits the canvas by the timekeeper that’s the function of the timekeeper to begin counting the moment any Fighter’s body other than his feet hits the canvas the referee has to count him out when the referee brought the the the champion
To the corner to the neutral Corner His function was to come back pick up the count from the timekeeper and then informed the fighter as the count progressed well what I’m just telling what the function of the referee was now the referee not hearing the fighter not
Hearing the count remained on the canvas attempting to arise when the count had reached nine which he never heard nine of course he was hurt he was hit a clean solid punch right on the jaw question of this is not a question of being hurt according to Liston it was a good shot
Liston told the media that he had never been knocked down before and that he may have tried too quickly to get up former heavyweight champion of the world Floyd Patterson said that he too thought oi landed a clean shot and hurt Liston but highly rated George chavalo felt
Different Shalo told the media that the punch could not have knocked out his youngest child and that the fight looked staged WBA officials was glad to also offer some criticism and the wba’s legal team said that the fight was a disgrace to boxing they pointed out again that
Ernie Terrell was the real heavyweight champion of the world there was a lot going on right after the fight though people were booing people were screaming that the fight was fixed George saalo was mad at Ali and tried to approach Ali in a physical manner Sunny Liston
Appeared to be in his own world and did not seem to have very many answers former light heavyweight champion of the world Archie Moore said that he was suspicious and had watched the slow motion replay according to Archie Moore punch landed but he did not believe Ali
Punched hard enough to knock Liston out with that particular punch Moore was nearly 50 years old when he had lost the fight to Ali nearly 3 years earlier and said that Ali was not a very hard puncher when he fought Ali but Moore pointed out that Ali may have developed
More power as he was a growing young man highly rated heavyweight Zora Foley weighed in Foley had fought list than 5 years earlier and said that he had hit Liston with much harder shots and didn’t believe a right hand like that could really hurt Lon the question was being
Asked did Sunny Lon take a dive did this have something to do with InterContinental promotions the mafia or perhaps the guys the media called the black Muslims all of these kind of questions came up according to liston’s friend former heavyweight champion of the world Joe Lewis Lewis felt that
Liston should consider hanging up the gloves the critics spoke on how Liston had once fought with a broken jaw and had been hit over the head by police officers with night sticks on several occasions and had never been knocked out how was it that this punch could knock
Out Liston who was also known to have a solid chin did Liston take a dive there was also people that believe the fight wasn’t fixed there was some that said that Liston just wanted the fight to be over and wanted his connection with Ali to end could it be true that Liston
Wanted to part ways with Ally and the noi there was critic that solely blamed the outcome of Sunny Liston and thought Ali had nothing to do with it according to some critics Sunny did not appear to be as hurt as he displayed in his actions there was people saying that
Sunny Liston had put on an act jokes were made about a recent movie that Sunny Liston had played in and there was people saying that Sunny Liston was still in character mode Sunny Lon continued to talk a little bit and told the media that he has no plans on
Retiring and said that he would fight anyone and will work his way back up to another title shot his trainer Willie reddish back Liston up and said that Liston will work his way back up to the top both Liston and reddish admitted that it would not be an easy thing for
Liston to do at his age and they knew that another title shot would not come anytime soon one excuse Lon used was that he did not hear a count coming from wcot for some it appeared as though wcot was the easiest person to blame but let’s not forget Ali stood over listen
Ali did not want to remain in a neutral corner but because there was some controversy regarding oi going to a neutral Corner wcot was blamed for that the punch landed clean said Liston I did not quit I was trying to pick up on the count and could not hear a count Liston
Again said that he would fight anyone including George talo Ali continued to credit stepping fetchet for teaching him the anchor punch and would also continue to bash Ernie Terell tell you what’s going to happen you might not come and it’s but I will say it will be a
Shocking and a dreadful night what they going to say what they going to say after we get him in a half a minute one pun right out there there that chop right that chop right was I telling them about that chop right the step and feter was teaching me
Come here step that’s old step right here where you come to find out not only did the fight get booed at the live event the fight was booed in closed circuit TV locations around the country and according to report the majority of the UK fan base that was up at 4:00 a.m.
Was also very unhappy Henry Cooper told the British media that the Americans are not doing well representing the sport of boxing and that the British heavyweights put on better shows Cooper did not say The British heavyweights were better but did say they put on better shows and he
Was referring to himself Brian London Johnny Prescott and Billy Walker who had all experienced success against American heavyweights Cooper may not have chose his words wisely as he said that the American heavyweights appeared to be on the decline Cooper pointed out that Sunny Liston had lost twice Cleveland
Williams was now weighing 165 lbs and was out of the picture there was declines displayed from 50s heavyweights such as Eddie Ma and then there was the grab and hole Champion Ernie Terrell who was having a problem selling tickets and gaining popularity was now the time for
The UK to make some serious noise was it time for the UK to take over the heavyweight division Henry Cooper believed that there was a lot of opportunity out there for British heavyweights and now was the right time but there was some young unproven American heavy weights that were on the
Come up you had Thad Spencer leotus Martin and a few others there was also some new faces making Pro debutes you had amateur standouts and Buster Mathis Jerry Quarry and then there was an Olympic gold medal IST working a 9 to-5 in Philadelphia named Joe Frasier so
There was some hope for American boxing older American heavyweights like Floyd Patterson and Zoro Foley had showed the fight fans of 1965 that they still have some juice with recent victories plus there was Mohammad Ali did Henry Cooper perhaps speak too soon that would remain to be
Seen over the next few days the media would use this fight as the main reason they felt boxing was on the decline the oldtime fight fans will talk about the good old days of Jack Dempsey and Joe Lewis some believe that boxing had not had a great heavyweight champion since
Rocky Marciano ruled a decade earlier Muhammad Ali had just completed his first defense and it appeared as though this young man could rule for a long time one of the most established heavyweights that had appeared to have the best chance to defeat Ali was former heavyweight champion of the world Floyd
Patterson Patterson had fast hands and quick reflexes there were some fight fans that felt Patterson Style would give Ali more problems than a slower Sunny Liston style did many fight fans Revisited the Henry Cooper fight Henry Cooper once again was a British heavyweight fighter that had floored Ali
The fight before Ali’s two fights with Sunny Liston According to some of alli’s critics the smaller faster heavyweights would get to him Henry Cooper did land punches more successfully than listen Floyd Patterson had recently defeated a few top tier heavyweights in Eddie Ma and George follow Patterson had also
Just defeated Texas fighter Todd Herring so he was definitely also an active fighter many of the fight fans wanted Floyd Patterson to fight Ali Ali wanted to fight Floyd Patterson as well this just appeared to be a fight that the fight fans wanted it seemed to make
Sense to match these two guys up for Ali’s next defense but there was another fighter that wanted a shot he also had a fan base that was Canada’s George chavalo chavalo had worked himself self up to be some kind of feared Boogeyman in the heavyweight division but chavalo
Could be outboxed as Floyd Patterson and Zoro Foley had both outboxed chavalo over the past two to three years there was the wba’s heavyweight champion Ernie Terrell but Terrell was not a big draw even with the WBA belt in his possession Ernie Terrell could perhaps put in some
Work to build a fight between him and Ali Ali continued to brag to the fight fans and media saying that he is the greatest heavyweight fighter of all times and said that he would have defeated all the heavy weights before him he talked about the anchor punch
That he stopped listening with and said that punch came from out of Jack Johnson’s toolbox he continued to remind the media that he learned the anchor punch from steepen fetchet who was a friend of Jack Johnson’s oi also went in on who he referred to as liston’s old
Friends for turning their backs on Liston all he said that Lon got nothing for the fight and had nothing around him but a bunch of snakes he said that said he feels sorry for Liston and he hopes Liston could get back on his feet he also said that now that the fight was
Over he’s more than willing to be liston’s friend according to Ali nobody cared about Liston anymore but Ali said that he does when Ali was laying in the hospital with hernia he said that he waited for Liston to show up he said that he wanted a visit from Liston that
Visit never did take place but Ali said that he was not going to treat Liston how Lon treated him he said that his plan was for him and his wife to visit Liston and his family in Denver Colorado within the next few weeks Ali who had spent most of his immediate time after
His knockout Victory calling out Floyd Patterson seemed to change his mind the very next day Ali was now saying he would prefer to fight Canadian heavyweight George chavalo next as the days Roll by reports would shift between Patterson and chavalo as to who Ali would fight next Ali was mad at chavalo
For being disrespectful after Ali defeated Liston Ali told the med that Shalo attempted to ruin his moment and was overly aggressive when they came face to face after the fight he acted like he was going to hit me he just might be next I’ve got something for him
He might just be building himself up for a big disgrace but that’s up to my manager they’ve got the power ability connections and complexion for that sort of thing Ali also said that Shalo is the only fighter alive that has a chance to defeat him he told the media that his
Plan is to Take On The World I think Shalo would make boxing more colorful and Shalo would make a better fight he never been knocked down and pal have a habit of been knocked out and sho’s never been knocked down and he’s uh boxing is at a stage of the game now
Like it used to be when ja Johson and people were fighting where uh the people wanted to see a good White Hope a good white Contender that could put up a good fight to help bring more interest in the boxing like boxing is a game where uh
Certain people have pride in a fell Champion well from RS of our country in heavyweight special heavyweights like Mar Johansson had a championship whenever he fought all SED was behind him and had interest in box and when Jose to as a fell that just beat willr a Puerto Rican right heavyweight champion
Whenever he fights something you can’t get in Madison Square Garden for all the Puerto Rican people buying all the tickets in advance same with things today most of the Negro dominate boxing and it gets rather dull and many of the people would like to have certain size
Support for something to go for I think sh would be a better fight than P I think an exception to your argument there champ would be the fact that FL Patterson can go to Sweden in fight and is a tremendous draw well that’s good he’s real like I be in Sweden also in
About another week I’m going that too I have big demand in Sweden they want me all not only Sweden all over the world from world we go to boxing we go to two countries three countries where they don’t even go for Boston that’s uh the Sudan Carol Egypt and Pakistan these are
Countries have never thought about boxing until I won the title and after Floyd Patterson and George chavalo was at the top of his Hit List Ali said that black fight fans would approach him more interested in a Patterson fight and that white fans would prefer to see him fight George
Saalo would you fight Floyd Patterson for charity Floyd Patterson’s assistant I don’t knock that out of my mind he ain’t nothing but a trump if he go back let him go back and fight Sunny look something if he can last two rounds again if he can last if he can answer
The bell for the second time with listen then he might deserve a shot at me I’m the king uh Floyd thinks he can beat you Floyd dreamed he beat me he’d apologized he rather run through hell in a gasoline spoke cat I can’t be beat Ali told the media
To let the fight fans vote for who his next opponent will be he also told the media that he was tired of Jersey Joe wcot receiving criticism when it was himself that was at fault for w Ott’s confusion Ally admitted that he should have went to a neutral corner right away
Ali then told the media to line up patteron chavalo and Terrell all on the same night I’ll whoop all three of them Chumps on the same night there was no doubt about it that the heavyweights that were on Ali’s mind the most was Floyd Patterson George chavalo and Ernie
Terrell the fight fans would just have to wait and see when and where he would face these guys would he make it through all three of these guys or would one of the these guys have the juice to upset a young Ali all of this remain to be seen
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28 Comments
I put a comment up earlier and I did this as a Liston guy from the time period. I saw two things I wish would have been addressed and am thinking they probably were on other portions of this series. This is absolutely THE BEST documented video by far on this subject by leeps and bounds. Folks interested in this fight and period should look no further than this complete history.
Let me watch this whole.
RIP sonny banks.
This was awesome
Love it
Thank you BLOOD!!!!!!!!! Made my day 👍🏾🥊
great stuff blood… poor Sonny.
OG Blood, what's good fam. This Funky Fresh…lol. Dammit man. I'm only 7 minutes into this video and it's already 🔥🔥🔥. You know Ali is my favorite boxer of all time. This footage is crisp and clean and you're narrating the shht out of it. Great work, great video OG.
One love….One Blood…..Retro Boxing and Documentaries. 🥊🥊💯
And the saga continues salute Blood.
I was a very active Clay (Ali) fan at this point but…I really researched this KO at that time. It was one of three issues IMO. 1) Sonny’s cornerman had a very interesting take few talk about. He claimed…Liston was afraid of the Black Muslim situation. He said Sonny thought there was a real chance Clay would be..assassinated and he would take bullets as they shoot up the ring. He told his cornerman that he wasn’t going to spend any time more then necessary in the ring. 2) Sonny trained his ass off getting in perfect shape then…it was postponed. He never got back that condition and knowing it, he was an easy mark and got KO’d. 3) Sonny, controlled by the Mob, threw the fight. Can you imagine the odds with Clay by KO early. To me, the most likely scenario. Sonny falling back spreading his arms out?? Not even good acting. Ali wasn’t in on it, if it was Mob controlled. 🥊🥊 btw Blood, this is brilliant..Thanks
What excellent footage! Where did they find all of this??
Why did Liston threw that fight
Ali's style in this fight is the most beautiful I've ever seen
Great Work
There definitely was a drop off of talent in the heavy division after Marciano. Ali at his age definitely took advantage of this. He was an average fighter at the time with many flaws. But nobody who was any good could take advantage of this. Liston already was 40 and as done as a fighter could be for fight 2. The rest of the division was either too light, small or just clumsy like Terrell. Ali at 6'4" and with a big reach advantage just had to show up against these guys. It helped Ali a ton that he didn't do much fighting after Liston 1. The hernia injury was a blessing for Ali. He did end up annoying other fighters with his big mouth. Its a shame because he's a bright guy and was interesting enough in pleasant conversation. He never needed the hysterics.
Dude, the amount of research etc . . . . . Where on Earth did you get all that background?
Fantastic whoever you are.
Really, top end stuff !!
If you find that Cleveland Williams interviews can you send them to me so I can see them?
You really need to be getting millions for these
Well done! 🥊🥊🥊
You can tell the punch was real because Liston's front foot does not settle before the rear foot collapses.
LETS GOOO!! #RETRO
I love Saturday afternoons and Retro Sports Documentaries. Dope combo🔥🔥🔥
R.I.P Sonny Banks 🙏🏽🙏🏽
Excellent episodes! Ran this one back twice…well done!! 🔥🔥🔥
man i love this. getting to see what these fighters had to experience in those envoirnments. its surprising how most of the white fighters still respected the black fighters even tho the atmosphere was racist. i guess they didnt have a choice bc at the end of the day they had to fight them so the color of their skin didnt matter. the way chavalo was hittin patterson behind the head showed a level of disrespect and frustration that wouldnt be allowed today! keep droppin these videos i cant get enuff of this
keep up the great work. this is important info!!
Wow another awesome documentary Blood, but only 80 likes from nearly 2500 views wtf is wrong with people!
Chuvalo wanted a piece of the money pie but he was no where near talented enough.